Family
by obsessed1
Summary: A snippet of the team and Torren.


The first night, Teyla finds Rodney in the lab. Of course he does not notice her. He never does when he is down here. His world narrows to equations and coffee and furious typing.

She leans against the door frame, crosses her arms and simply watches as Rodney paces back and forth, one hand waves a black marker in the air, the other cradles her son against his chest.

"Now, we need to increase the power, but we need to keep it stable." He stops at his whiteboard and gestures with the marker. "How? What do you think Torren? Huh? If we-" He makes a sweeping motion across the board and starts writing down equations and Torren makes a small babbling noise. Rodney smiles, bright and beautiful, and his eyes light up. "You are a genius! Of course!"

This is not the first time she has found her son gone in the middle of the night and there are only so many culprits responsible. Rodney works long hours, often through the night, and Torren is only sleeping a few hours at a time. It's a perfect match. Only Torren is decidedly less grumpy.

"So, what we do now is…oh, Teyla…I was just-" Rodney looks down at her son guiltily and then back at the whiteboard.

Teyla smiles. She knows her son is safe here and she recognises the merits of starting education early. She wants Torren to have Rodney's intelligence, just as she wants him to have Ronon's courage and John's humility.

"He…"

"It is okay, Rodney." She ventures into the lab and smoothes a hand over Torrens head.

"I was going to bring him back."

"I know."

"It's not like I was stealing him or anything."

"I agree."

"He was awake and-"

"I know."

Rodney nods and then sighs. "I suppose you want him back now?"

"The thought had crossed my mind."

"We were working on-" he trails off as Teyla pulls her son into her arms, rocking him gently. "-it can wait."

-------------------

The second night, she discovers Ronon sitting in her room. Kana'an is off-world tonight which has left her oddly bereft.

Ronon must have learned from Rodney how to bypass the door controls. He sits in the corner of the room, Torren happily in his lap, one hand wrapped around his finger.

"Ronon?" she asks, rolling onto her side to check the time. It's early.

"Yeah."

She smiles in the darkness even though he cannot see her.

"I was just passing."

She switches on the light and notices the bottle in his hand.

Ronon goes to move. "Sorry."

"No, Ronon. It is fine. Please."

The uneasy look in his eyes fades away and he sits back, re-positioning Torren so he is more comfortable and places the bottle in her son's mouth. He suckles loudly, slurping and making little happy noises.

"This isn't so hard."

Teyla rolls over and goes back to sleep.

--------------------

The third night, Teyla finds John in one of the rec-rooms flat out on his back on one of the sofas and sound asleep. Torren is positioned on his chest, little fists balled up either side of his head. He too is fast asleep.

Teyla reaches for one of the blankets and starts to pull it over them when John suddenly stiffens and pulls his hands around Torren protectively before opening his eyes.

"Teyla?"

She continues to wrap the blanket around them.

"We were just-" he turns to look at the plasma screen that displays static.

"You were just?"

"-guess I, _we_, fell asleep. Sorry."

"I knew where Torren was. At least, I knew he would be with one of you."

John pats Torrens back.

"I hope my son enjoyed," she checks the case lying next to the sofa. "Die Hard with a Vengeance?"

"Oh that-" he looks guilty. "We weren't watching that."

Teyla crosses her arms. "Of course not."

"Guess we've been kind of hogging him," John says with a big yawn.

Teyla laughs quietly.

"We were trying to give you a break. Thought you might want the sleep after-"

She remembers the conversation clearly. The commissary; early morning breakfast. She had been awake all night with Torren and had complained that she was exhausted. The others had been readying for any away mission. She had thought that they were not listening to her.

"You were listening?"

"Part of being team leader is knowing what everyone needs. You looked dead-tired; we've had some down time."

"You did not have to do that."

"I know. We know." He yawns again.

"Thank you," she says, genuinely.

"Don't mention it," John says, eyes drifting closed.

"Are you going back to your quarters?"

"Nah," he says rolling his shoulders and settling back against the cushions. "Gonna stay here a while."

His arms are still wrapped around her son. "John?"

"Mmmm?"

"John?"

She has never seen him sleep so peacefully. All the worry she often sees on missions is gone and she loathes to wake him and cajole him to bed so he can sleep with his demons instead.

"I'll get up in a minu-" his sentence peters off. "'kay?"

She leaves her son tucked safely in John's arms and sits in the chair next to them, curling her feet under her and tugging the spare blanket over her shoulders.


End file.
